A Silver Arrow
by CG
Summary: A forest to his own, a crazy band of friends, what's a young elf prince like Legolas to do? Get into trouble, of course! ^_^ And when it's Legolas you know it's going to be more trouble than all of Mirkwood has ever seen!


Disclaimer- I'd steal him if I could, but for the time being, Legolas, and all other LotR concepts are in fact JRR Tolkein's. Ardael, Carthion, Robrias, Agsmyrion, Jandriel, etc are all mine, however.   
  
Author's Note- Oh no! CG's writing LoTR fanfiction. I promise that this is NOT one of those Legolas falls desperately in love stories or a Mary Sue. It's about friendship and Legolas' adventures as a young elf. In the books, there never appears to be any young elves (you know, like kids) in there. Yes, I have read the books (okay, well the first one, but I'm working on it) and am trying to keep fairly consistent with the cannon, but if I screw up, just nicely let me know. But since Elves obviously don't just appear full grown, then they have to start small. Following that train of thought, what would Legolas be like as a young elf? Well, obviously he would be the biggest troublemaker in all of Mirkwood (DUH! ^_^)! These are just his adventures. Due to his age at the beginning of this (which is about the elven equivalent of six or seven), it takes WAY before even the Hobbit. The title will be explained in chapters to come. So yeah, read, and enjoy. I will worship you if you give me feedback.  
  
Pronunciation note- Ardael: are - day - ell  
Carthion- car- thee- on  
Tiberius- tib- bur- ee- us  
Robrias- Robe-bry-us  
Agsmyrion- Ags - mir- ee- on  
Jandriel- Jan - dree - ell  


**The Silver Arrow**

  
  


Chapter One- In which a toad shows up for dinner

  
  
"Ardael! Ardael!"   
  
It was early dawn and the leaves from the high forest trees above dispersed the light into speckles and freckles, dappling the earth below. Though it was early, the promise of a beautiful day could be seen in the speckle of sunlight. I had arisen early, for I was excited for the new day. It was difficult to sneak out of the palace so early without Nan noticing, but possible, especially when your name was Legolas Prince of Mirkwood. She would always tell me to stay in bed at least for a little while because elves need their sleep, but I, stubborn as ever, had far more important things to worry about.  
  
I had crept through the window of my room and on the road (if Elvish towns truly do have roads) and went to seek out Ardael.   
  
I knew where she would be: up in a tree as usual with that leather-bound book of lore that she always was reading. It was just a matter of figuring out which tree.   
  
"Ardael! Ardael!"  
  
"Boo!" I flinched, but only slightly, as a figure swung out from the top of an elm that I stood under, reaching out at me in the dim morning light. Ardael had long ago mastered the art of catching me off guard by swinging upside-down by her knees from a low branch of a tree at exactly the moment I was passing under it.   
  
She giggled her sweet, high-pitched giggle. "What's hanging, Prince of Mirkwood?" she asked, laughingly.  
  
"You are!" I answered, a little upset for being so easily scared.  
  
She flipped around and swung down from the branch, landing before me. Ardael had long, fawn-colored tresses that she usually wore braided in one long braid that was pinned to circle her head like a crown to keep them out of the way. I had met her one day when I was trying to climb a particular tree. I had seen her there, a feminine shadow concealed among the leaves.   
  
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>  
> "I hope you know that this is MY tree!" she had said the day of our first meeting.  
  
"Well, considering that I'm the prince of Mirkwood, I think that it would be mine!"  
  
"Yes, well, if it weren't for my father, you may never have been born, Prince of Mirkwood, so I suggest you get out of my tree!"  
  
She had pushed me and I almost fell, but regained my balance at the last split second, and managed to stay on the branch.   
  
"Who is your father that you can make such a claim!"  
  
She glanced at me in a sort of haughty manner, as young children often do when they have something to be proud of, "My father is none other than the great healer Vardadolion of Mirkwood. Your mother had the birthing sickness and he was able to keep her alive just long enough to have you. Such a shame to see an elf die over a silly disease. Father says that it came from the dwarves as a plague to our kind for we had not developed resistance yet." Ardael, then as ever, loved to use big words.   
  
"You're the healer's daughter!?" I exclaimed. I had heard much of both her father and mother for they were not only skilled healers but also dear friends of my father. "Are you a healer too?"  
  
"But of course, Prince of Mirkwood...well a healer in training that is. Father says that it will take me almost centuries to learn the entire craft. A century! Doesn't that seem like a long time to wait?"  
  
By this time I had been getting sick and sore of formalities. "I do have a name you know."  
  
"Oh I know, but since you haven't called me anything but 'hey you' I don't see why I need to call you by your name."  
  
"Well, I don't know your name."  
  
"It's Ardael. Are-day-elle. Remember it. And don't call me day or day sprite. It's annoying."  
  
"Well then, my name is Legolas. Leh-go-loss. And don't call me legs, or legos. That's even more annoying than day sprite. Now can you stand one more leaf in this tree?"  
  
"Well, I guess so..."  
  
With those words, we both became fast friends. I asked her all those questions that young must always ask their peers before they become friends (the oh-so-important "What is your favorite color?" [hers was green] "What is your favorite candy?" [strawberry blooms] "What is your favorite animal?" [a deer] and the like), and she asked me the same. I learned that she loved fairy tales, and read them often, so now she was quite the authoritative expert.   
  
  
  
On this particular day, I had more important business than stories or even adventures.   
  
"Ardael! Look!" I held out an elegantly carved bow which at this point in my life was about as tall as I was. "Be careful! Don't let it break or I'll set all the elven archers out on you!"  
  
"I'll be careful...Wow! This is beautiful!" and it was. It was made of strong yet supple elm, and carved by the finest craftsmen. It had taken extra precaution to sneak it out of the house without Nan noticing, but I had succeeded, and at the moment was feeling rather smug for it. "Is it yours, Legolas?"  
  
"Yes...well...not really yet...but it will be. My father said that when I go on my first hunt he'll give it to me, but that's so long away! I didn't think it would hurt to bring it out to show you just once. I'm going to be the best archer that Mirkwood has ever seen!"  
  
She giggled, "It's as big as you are, Legolas! Even bigger! How are you ever going to wield it?"  
  
"Hey! I'm small now, but I'll grow. And you're one to talk, you're even shorter than me!"  
  
"By half an inch!"   
  
"Are not! It's more than that!"  
  
"Am too!'  
  
"Are not and besides it doesn't matter. I'm still going to be the best archer of Mirkwood, and when I am, you'll admit that I'm right and you're wrong, as usual."  
  
"Well..." she paused to think of a cleaver retort, but could think of none, "Whatever. Just don't show it to Robrias or Agsmyrion. If they get their hands on it, it'll be broken to splinters in seconds."  
  
We both laughed at the joke. Robrias and Agsmyrion were friends of mine as well, sons of Elven archers both of them. They were clumsy, impulsive and hasty, always tripping over both their feet and their words, and had a tendency to destroy most that they got their hands on.   
  
"Don't worry, I won't. Now I better hurry back before Nan realizes that I'm gone."  
  
"Too late, little Prince-ling. You think you are so clever, but you'll need to be a hundred times as clever to fool old Girithtilwen. No sir, you can't outwit an old maid like your dear old Nan. No sir. Now back home with you, and leave the morning to ripen into day before you run out in it. Your father will be expecting you at breakfast shortly."  
  
"Oh Nan!" I protested, "It's such a lovely day!"   
  
"No ands, ifs, or buts, Legolas my prince-ling, or you shall have a smack on yours. And you, Ardael, what business do you have being out at this hour? Do your parents know you're out and about?"  
  
"No... I mean yes...I mean...well....mother had to spend all last night birthing a baby and I couldn't get any sleep with the stupid thing crying like it was. So I decided to sit out and read but it was such a lovely morning that...."  
  
"Stop. Stop. You get more creative all the time missy. If I were your Nan, I would send you home right away, but your friend the Prince-ling is such a handful, I don't see myself taking upon the job of looking after the both of you. But if you're not careful, I will tell your parents I saw you out here. Legolas, I don't want to want to say it again. Come home. Now. Did you hear me Prince-ling? Your ears are not so regal as not to hear me speak. Home. Now."  
  
"Yes, Nan. I'll meet you at the tree house later, Ardael! I've got a great idea that you and the others have to hear!"  
  
"I'll be there!"  
  
"Alright, Alright Nan, I'm coming, I'm coming. Sorry, but I really gotta go. See you soon Day sprite!"  
  
She stuck her tongue out at me as I used the dreaded nick name, "You too, Prince-ling!"  
  
I stuck my tongue out back and hurried after Nan, who was growing more impatient by the second.   
  
My Nan, Girithtilwen, was my nurse, who looked after me with a watchful eye and a stern hand. And I surely did give her a handful. She was not mean, although strict, and I both hated and loved her at the same time.   
  
Nan grabbed my wrist and half dragged me to the palace. I was very upset at this: one for being outwitted, and two, for the scolding I was given for mistreating a precious family treasure (my bow) and perhaps I never would be old enough to wield it. That got me. I was good for one whole hour. I was very polite during breakfast and ate with my best manners. Of course, I tended to be fairly good during meals; it embarrassed my older brothers. Usually on their best behavior, Carthion and Tiberius ate as quickly as ravenous wolves during dinner, and nothing embarrassed them more than father pointing out that their youngest brother (and I was much younger than the both of them) had better manners for eating than both of them combined. Part of it was the sheer enjoyment of praise, and also to get back at them for always calling me a squirt. Therefore, breakfast being about an hour long, my short period of tameness (and Nan's short rest period) was soon over, and I was out the door again before Nan could suggest that I put on a cloak.   
  
I made my way out of the palace gate and over to the tall tree house where my friends sat waiting. It was a rather makeshift structure, nestled in a tall pine. Constructed by my father when he had been young, it had passed first to Carthion and his friends and then to Tiberius and now to me, making it a tradition of sorts in my family. I stood before the tree and knocked on it twice, stomped thrice, and snapped my fingers.   
  
"What's the password?" a voice called town.  
  
"Cotton seed!" I called back up.   
  
A rather large metal bucket on a pulley was lowered down, and I stepped inside, and then used the pulley to raise myself up into the high branches of the tree. When I reached the tree house, I quickly pulled myself and the bucket into it (for we needed the bucket with us in order to restrict the access to the private tree house).   
  
"Hiya Legolas, what took you so long?" a dark-haired, green-eyed elf asked. His name was Robrias, whom I've mentioned earlier to by clumsy and sometimes annoying. However, he was a good friend, and a loyal one, who was never reluctant to participate in any mischief any of the others or I could come up with, and treated his peers like a brother.   
  
"I told you both, his Nan made him come in for breakfast," Ardael butted in, proud to have been the one in the know.   
  
The other boy-elf up there, tiny and slim Agsmyrion, glared at her coldly, "Well why should we trust you? You're just a stupid girl!"  
  
"Watch it or I'll punch your nose!" Ardael yelled.  
  
"Be careful, she'd do it, you know," I said. Ardael was my best friend, and I knew her well. When we both came home covered in scratches and mud, it was as likely as not that we had been the cause of each other's injuries. And yet, even when we mud-wrestled, the winner would always reach their hand down and help the other out of the muck, and after a few seconds of sore egos and dastardly glares, we'd both smile and walk home friends again. She was pretty tough...for a girl.   
  
"Geez, Legolas, your Nan doesn't cut you any slack, does she?" Robrias said, "I bet she's really a dwarf witch in disguise!"  
  
"She can't be a dwarf witch stupid! She doesn't have a beard!" Agsmyrion added, always quick to argue.   
  
"Besides for that, dwarfs are completely different things from witches," Ardael spoke up, once again in the know, due to all the folklore she had read.   
  
"Well in any case, I say we hex her! Teach her a lesson she'll never forget!" Agsmyrion yelled.  
  
I thought about it for a moment. While the idea of hexing Nan...just for a little while of course...sounded appealing, I wasn't sure she was as bad as all that. However, I was mad at her at the moment (in addition to the previous reasons, she had told me that I had to go to a stupid fancy dinner that night. It was in celebration of some emissary from Rivendell or rubbish such as that. Ardael had to go too because her father was very important in the community, and she was less than thrilled as well). And when I was mad at someone, well what better revenge was there than mischief and jokes?   
  
"No, maybe we won't hex her, just shake her up a bit," said I, "besides, it's such a hot day that I would rather hike in the creek than find spell ingredients."  
  
"Spells are dumb anyway 'cause we don't any besides the one's in Ardael's stupid book and the last time we tried one of those, it didn't work!" Robrias chimed in.  
  
"I told you we had to use a real orc wart and not moldy cheese!" Ardael defended herself.   
  
"Eh! What's the difference?" Agsmyrion muttered.   
  
"So what do suggest we do?" Ardael changed the subject.  
  
"Well, why don't we walk up the creek to Mirkwood pond and catch a green toad," I suggested, "Then, Ardael and I will strategically place it so that Nan will remember the Emissary's dinner tonight for years to come!"  
  
"Brilliant!" exclaimed Ardael, "and I thought this was going to be a boring dinner!"  
  
"But what about us?" complained Robrias, "Don't we get to watch the fireworks?"  
  
"Won't you be at the dinner?" I asked.  
  
"No, our fathers are on duty tonight," explained Agsmyrion.   
  
"Well then, that's simple enough. Follow them on their watch and you'll hear the whole thing!"  
  
Ardael giggled at the thought of what was to come, and all of us rode the bucket down to the forest floor and made for the creek.  
  
"Hey guys! Where are you going? Can I come too?" Jandriel, a fair, blonde she-elf, and another friend of Ardael's approached us. Sweet, kind, but a little timid, Jandriel seemed to be the least likely addition to our group. However, she was like a second sister to Ardael, who always insisted that Jandriel could follow us when she liked, despite the protests of Robrias and Agsmyrion who disliked even having one girl along on our adventures. They had stopped protesting Ardael's presence long ago, when they realized that it was an unarguable matter.   
  
"Nowhere you'd be interested in!" Agsmyrion said quickly.   
  
"I wasn't asking you! You always say no! Ardael, can I come wherever you're going?"  
  
"I donno. I don't think you'd really like to go toad hunting with us, would you?" Ardael said.   
  
"I'd do anything to get out of this heat!" exclaimed Jandriel, "But I don't understand! What's so fun about toads? Why hunt them?"  
  
" 'Cause Legolas' Nan is being a female orc, and we want to scare some sense into her!" Robrias spoke up.   
  
Agsmyrion was outraged, "Don't tell HER! Now she'll tattle on us."  
  
"No she won't!" shouted Ardael, "You won't, will you Jandri?"  
  
"No...no...of course not. I'm no tattle-troll! But I don't get it? Won't you get in trouble?" Jandriel cautioned.  
  
"Ha!" said I, "Who cares about trouble. What's she gonna do? Spank me?"  
  
"Oh, only ground you, put you in the cellar, make you help out in the kitchen..." Jandriel's list seemed to go on and on.  
  
"Well if you're so afraid of getting in trouble, you don't have to go with us!" I said, "Come on gang!"   
  
And so we began, I in front with Ardael beside me, then Agsmyrion, and then Robrias. Jandriel pondered for a moment, and then followed behind us.   
  
Mirkwood in summertime was almost unbearably hot, and the creak leading to the pond was the ideal place to cool off. We'd roll up the soft leggings we all wore (young elves tend to wear tunics and leggings of various colors regardless of their sex), up to the knees and kick off our thin leather sandals and wade in the water, letting the tiny current rush over our feet and around our ankles, as we searched for interesting rocks, and sticks, sometimes singing and sometimes talking amongst ourselves. When we got hungry along the way, Robrias never failed to bring a bag of strawberry blooms (candied flowers that tasted like strawberries) and chocolate biscuits along, and it was passed around until nothing was left.   
  
Summer hung around us like a sticky precipitant and tried to boil us bones and all. The sun continued to beat down on us unmercifully as we walked along. However, the water was delightfully icy, and sometimes we'd scoop up water in two hands and dump it on ourselves in order to cool off.   
  
We made our way over to the pond, laughing and splashing all the way, our devious plan fresh in our minds.   
  
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>  
  
The afternoon was all haze and laze. We relaxed by the lake and listened to the birds, frogs and buzzing dragonflies. Catching the toad itself was the largest problem, as they tend to enjoy slipping out of the hands of young elves.   
  
Ardael fell into the lake twice in attempt to catch a toad, and laughingly we all jumped in after her-clothes and all, and began to splash, kick and battle! There was a large rock protruding from the lake which sometimes served as a far-away island in our many imaginative games during our visits to the lake. It was the closest we had to the sea; none of us had ever seen it before, nor tasted the salt-sweet air.   
  
Agsmyrion swam over to the rock, where Robrias had been sitting, and with a mighty shove pushed poor Robrias into the water!  
  
"I'm the king of the castle! Get out you no-good rascal!" he taunted as a rather embarrassed Robrias pulled himself over onto the bank.  
  
"No!" I called, dragging Agsmyrion into the murky depths of the pond, "I'm the king of the castle!" I succeeded and stood upon the rock triumphantly. "Ha!" So proud I was, I did not notice the giggling girls behind me. The next moment I was underwater.   
  
"Hah! Now WE'RE the queens of the castle!" Jandriel and Ardael laughed.  
  
"And you are our servants! You have to do whatever we say!" Ardael added.  
  
"Peasant revolt!" I yelled and Agsmyrion, Robrias and I grabbed the girls by the ankles and pulled them splash into the water.   
  
"No fair!" Jandriel cried, her head poking out from the surface of the water.   
  
Climbing out onto the bank again, we all attempted to grab a toad from the pond, at times falling in and becoming wet again where the sun had already dried us.   
  
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>  
  
"Where have you been?" Nan yelled as I crept in through the window and into my room, "and you are filthy! What were you trying to do, plant a garden on your skin? Into the bath with you!"  
  
"Awww....But...Nan...I'm clean, I just went swimming." I groaned, but I knew that Nan being as she was, there would be no argument until I had been thoroughly scrubbed.   
  
Soon I was dressed in my more formal attire (brown leggings and a green tunic that were clean and belted with an ornate belt of leather and gold) and downstairs to greet the guests.   
  
Ardael arrived with her parents first, wearing a pale green dress. I snickered and she glared - she hated dresses more than anything. Afterward, we both shared a wink, assured of the coming chaos. Agsmyrion had agreed to take advantage of his fathers post as a chance to sneak into the kitchens...but I'll get to that later.   
  
My brothers, father, and I greeted the emissary from Rivendell with great joy. In those days, as now, emissaries were sent between Mirkwood and Rivendell for purposes of news instead of negotiation. Both cities were on excellent terms.   
  
Nan, of course, had been invited as well. Someone had to keep an eye on me, even during meals. This worked to our advantage. I sat across the table from Ardael, who kept burying her face in her napkin in order to keep from laughing with anticipation. She always did laugh a little too easily.   
  
As dinner began to be served, I got nervous. Was Agsmyrion caught? If so, would he tell? Oh...I'd get the tattle-troll so bad if he'd lie to save his own ears! The main course was served in the traditional style, with a silver lid above each plate. I groaned with boredom at the political ramblings and picked at my food.   
  
"EEEEEE! What, damn Sauron, is this creature doing in my food!"   
  
My head jolted in surprise to see Nan standing upon her chair, pointing at the huge brown and olive toad, covered with warts and pond muck, croaking happily on her platter. Then, all chaos began.  
  
Hearing the screams, the elven archers had run into the room to see what the commotion was as Nan continued to scream like an orc.  
  
"Devil take it! Aiiii! Get it away! Out of my sight!"  
  
Agsmyrion followed his father, toy bow and arrow in his hand, all loaded up and all. Unfortunately, in his amusement he slipped upon the marble floor and set the wooden arrow flying. It struck true-right in the center of Nan's back!  
  
"Oh it's shooting its poison barbs at me! Oh bless me in the name of middle earth, its struck me with its poison stings! A creature of Sauron it must be! Attacking a poor elf such as me who's never harmed the likes of anyone! Oh woe is for me!"  
  
By this time, Ardael and I were beside ourselves with laughter; we would joke at this for years to come. Soon, we noticed that the yelling had stopped, and all in the room was staring at us with angry eyes.   
  
"You would not know anything about this, would you Legolas?" my father asked. His voice was soft and deathly quiet. He never yelled at my brothers or I, but his harsh, quiet voice was all the punishment we needed.  
  
"It was his-her idea!" Ardael and I said at once, she blaming it on me, and I blaming it on her.  
  
My father glared at us, and we both knew that we would be grounded for months to come. But that did not matter. Elves are immortal, and we had all the time in the world. I could wait for the next adventure. At least now I would have time to plan it. This would be a good one, I decided. I had been thinking of an idea that very day...  
  
To Be Continued.  
  
Review, por favor ^_^   



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